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THE   ROBERT    E.  COWAN  COLLECTION 

I'Kl-.SI-.N  1  I-.I)    TO    Till; 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

r.Y 

C.  P.  HUNTINGTON 

dUNE.   18Q7. 

ssion  Nc703//        Class  No' 

C^//3 

^ 


sCAUFOR^! 

SMILES  AND  TEARS 


IN  VERSE  AND   PROSE. 


BY    E.    E.    COTHRAN. 


SAN    FRANCISCO  : 
THE    SAX    FRANCISCO    NEWS    COMPANY: 

1882. 


SMILES  AND  TEARS 


TN  VERSE  AND  PROSE. 


BY    E.    E.    COTHRAN 


SAN   FRANCISCO  : 

THE   SAN   FRANCISCO   NEWS   COMPANY: 
1882. 


7  0  3  /  / 


A   ROMAN, 

PRINTER. 


\  B  R  A 

OF   THE 

LVERSITY 


PREFACE. 


A  preface  is  generally  too  hackney  to  contain  anything  very  fine ;  yet  it 
is  a  thing  which  every  one  expects  to  read  in  a  new  book,  as  much  as  an 
American  audience  expects  its  orator  to  begin  with  ' '  Ladies  and  Gen 
tlemen." 

In  spite  of  the  affectations  of  the  kid-gloved  gentleman,  whom  to  attempt 
to  educate  with  good  effect  is  as  vain  as  plowing  furrows  in  sand ;  in  spite 
of  the  imbecile  exclamations  of  the  fashionable  lady  from  her  sofa— we 
still  acknowledge  that  what  now  appears  to  the  public  in  this  little  volume 
was  mostly  composed  on  a  farm  in  the  "  vulgar  country." 

The  author,  laboring  in  common  with  all  classes  of  men,  necessarily 
added  to  his  vocabulary  of  words  a  certain  coarseness,  which  he  fears 
must  be  only  too  clear  to  the  really  cultured  and  classical  mind.  Whether 
he  should  have  kept  silent,  and  drawn  his  cap  over  his  eyes  in  the  presence 
of  such  genuine  illuminators  as  Bret  Harte,  Joaquin  Miller,  Hugh  Ban 
croft,  and  Ida  Coolbrith,  or  done  as  he  has  done,  is  not  for  him  to  declare. 

The  writer  would  repel  the  accusation  that  he  has  ever  willfully  assailed 
any  true  religious  principle,  though  he  would  wish  to  be  understood  as 
desiring  the  destruction  of  superstition  and  hypocritical  cant ;  for  without 
religion,  life  is  altogether  a  curse,  and  death  is  contemplated  with  un- 


speakable  terror.  When  we  see  our  fellow-creatures,  or  when  we  our 
selves,  lay  away  dear  loved  ones  in  the  mute  earth,  to  an  unknown  eternity, 
we  then  most  feel  the  sweetness  and  comfort  of  religious  consolation ;  nor 
would  we  exchange  this  feeling  anywhere  short  of  what  appeared  to  us  a 
positive  mathematical  negation :  much  less  for  what  is  now  but  a  sneering 
doubt  of  its  truth.  Though  the  writer  holds  that  all  theological  beliefs 
have  in  them  much  absurdity  and  dross,  he  yet  believes  them  to  be  a 
manifestation  of  the  human  soul  toward  some  ideal  of  purity  and  happi 
ness — a  seeking  after  something  higher  and  nobler  ;  and  he  further  claims 
that  either  mere  skepticism  or  mere  belief  is  no  criterion  of  a  moral  or 
an  immoral  life. 

Inviting  honest  criticism,  which  he  believes  to  be  as  applicable  to  the 
advancement  of  thought  as  trimming  to  the  outgrowth  of  trees,  the 
author  briefly  submits  his  labor  for  a  respectful  perusal  :  after  which,  if  it 
be  thought  a  production  of  merit,  let  it  be  treated  as  such ;  but  if  proven 
otherwise,  let  it  be  cast— as  it  should  be — to  the  still  sea  of  oblivion. 

THE   AUTHOR, 


SMILES  AND  TEARS 


AN  IDEAL. 

To  be  with  nobler  minds  and  purer  hearts, 

Than  some  beneath  these  skies ; 
To  live  in  worlds  where  the  tear  never  starts 

In  love's  deep,  tender  eyes ; 
Where  the  forms  and  faces  of  those  we  love 

Their  beauty  aye  retain, 
Where  the  seraph  of  peace  flies  not  above, 

Nor  hope  nor  joy  is  vain. 


CALIFORNIA  IN  NATURE. 

Sun-kissed  mountains  of  gold  and  snow, 
Where  sweetest  airs  'neath  heaven  blow ; 
Of  bright  flowers,  trees,  and  grasses  green, 
Where  joy  is  heard  and  beauty's  seen ; 


6 


Shaded  waters,  glass-clear  and  cold, 
That  only  birds  and  beasts  behold ; 
Vales  fair  and  useful  as  they  smile, 
Rich  as  the  soil  on  Egypt's  Nile  ; 
Streams  and  rivers  murmuring  low — 
Love's  music  when  love's  heart  doth  glow ; 
Near  heaved  the  sea,  solemn  and  deep, 
And  every  ship  was  free  to  sweep ; — 
O'er  all  there  ruled  a  savage  race, 
Of  cruel  soul  and  painted  face, 
Asleep  in  earth,  their  graves  none  know, 
Hushed  in  oblivion  long  ago. 


BABY'S  SLEEPING  ON  HER  LITTLE  BED. 

Baby's  sleeping  on  her  little  bed, 

Her  blue  eyes  closed  in  dreamless  rest ; 

Soft  around  her  move  the  angel  dead, 
Companionship  their  subtle  quest. 

But  she  wists  not  of  their  mission, 

Though  smiles  of  love  and  beauty  wreathe  her  face  ; 
She'll  stay  to  be  my  moral  Titian, 

Conducting  me  to  holiness  and  grace. 


MYSTERIES  FOREVER  UNKNOWABLE. 

O,  ever-changing  brain  of  thought !  thou  art 

At  best  the  toy  of  fickle  circumstance  : — 

O,  heart !  aching  and  bleeding  with  sorrow, 

Or  pulsing  high  with  joy ;  strange  the  things  which 

Build  or  break  thee.     Ah,  mighty  marble  will, 

How  oft  erecting  fame  o'er  crime  and  death ! 

O,  endless  love  !    queen  of  philosophy, 

So  sad,  debased  by  crowned  ambition  vile ; 

And  fancy  all  absorbed,  swift  flying  through 

The  airless  climes  of  space.     What  shall  we  know  ? 

Shall  we  not  seek  for  wisdom  yet,  but  strive 

To  catch  the  secrets  of  eternity, 

Though  on  our  ears  an  awful  bell  doth  ring 

Mysteries  forever  unknowable  ? 


TO   A  YOUNG   FRIEND    STUDYING    FOR   THE 
CATHOLIC    PRIESTHOOD. 

"  It  is  not  good  that  man  should  be  alone," 

So  we  read  an  ancient  Man-maker  spake  ; 
Another  God  now  occupies  his  throne, 

Who  would  make  men  "  eunuchs  for  the  Lord's  sake." 


THE    WORTH    OF    HUMAN    LIFE. 

Gold,  power,  place,  or  fame,  can  ye  satisfy 

The  deep,  strong  craving  of  a  human  heart? 
Love  sometime,  but  none  now,  thus  breathe  and  die, 

And  fail  to  live  most  men ;   better  to  dart 
A  carrion  buzzard  in  the  sunlight  air, 

Change  death  to  life  from  love  of  self  and  kind — 
Ah,  sweetest  all  when  join  some  youthful  pair 

In  joy !    heart  linked  to  heart,  and  mind  to  mind  ; 
Though  flowers  shall  hide  their  hut,  and  poor  their  fare, 

And  their  dress  be  the  peasants'  plain  attire, 
Yet  will  they  scorn  foul  wealth  and  tyrants  dare — 

In  life  or  death  shall  burn  love's  quenchless  fire. 


BURNS    AND   JEAN   ARMOUR. 

"  O,  never  fear,  my  Jeanie  dear, 

I  will  na'  leave  thee  in  thy  shame ; 
So  wipe  away  that  bitter  tear. 

My  Jean,  I  love  thee  just  the  same, 

Howe'er  the  cruel  world  may  sneer: 
Come  to  my  hame — I'll  take  thy  name." 


"  I  would  na'  fear,  my  Robbie  dear, 

If  neighbor  hearts  like  thine  did  beat ; 
But,  oh !  my  sisters'  scorn  I  hear. 

And  every  brother  gossips,  too, 

Telling  his  friends,  in  careless  tone, 
How  foolish  fond  I  was  of  you. 

I'll  love  and  serve  thee,  Rob,  for  aye ; 

If  lost  to  you,  what  could  I  do, 
But  fawning  harlot  live — or  die  ?  " 


"BOB     BURNS." 

"Bob  Burns,"  the   king  of  mirth  and  love  and  tears, 
Great  tender  soul,  whose  brains  lay  in  his  heart ! 
To  millions'  hopes  and  fears,  for  unknown  years, 
His  sweet  Scotch  hymns  shall  purer  days  impart. 


THE     PESSIMIST. 

I. 

I  look  above ;  the  unfathomed  sea  of  blue 
Heaves  gently  in  the  sun's  eternal  light ; 

The  white  clouds  flee  like  ghosts  before  my  view  ; 
Yet  mystic  beauty,  majesty,  and  might 


l:\BRA7rp5 

OF   THE 

UNIVERSITY 


10 


Are  there  forever :  and  the  poor  weak  sight 
Of  man  sees  little  more ;  for  what  may  be 

Beyond,  he  only  hopes  ;  here  day  and  night 
Make  constant  gaps   in  life  ;  and   cruelty 
Alike  with  love,  to  us  the  Clods  deal  equally. 


II. 


Forever,  worlds  on  worlds,  the  universe 
Of  all,  planless  and  purposeless,  rolls  on ; 

That  life  to  this,  a  blessing  or  a  curse  ; 

Chill  darkness  melts  the  golden  rays  of  dawn; 

From  all,  nor  First  nor  Last  by  us  is  drawn  ; — 

Life,  hope,  joy,  sin,  sorrow,  and  death ;  but  then, 

Mind  at  mystery  eternal  shall  yawn, 

As  hope  made  real  would  deify  our  den, 

And  break  the  fencing  round  this  universal  pen. 


III. 

Ah  !  where  are  those  who  sought  to  win  the  world, 
And  those  whose  souls  could  never  soar  so  high, 

Yet  whom  around  proud  glory's  banner  furled? 

And  where  are  they  whose  love  all  hearts  should  tie, 

For  whom  charity  now  in  vain  doth  sigh ; 

They  who  forgave  their  foes  with  dying  breath, 

Lived  the  kings  of  goodness,  and  thus  did  die  ? 
Wailing  from  the  darkness,  a  Spirit  saith : 
The  gay,  proud,  poor,  and  great,  as  one  are  hushed  in  death! 


11 


THE    OPTIMIST. 

I. 

To  murder  joy  and  be  a  coward  pessimist, 

To  be  of  darkling  night  and  death  and  gloom, 
Where  self  is  all,  yet  naught — hail  optimist ! 

With  thee  is  hope  that  sorrow  cannot  doom, 
With  thce  love  dies  but  once  again  to  bloom ; 

Though  reason  cannot  sanction  all  desires, 
She  has  in  mortal  hope  an  ample  room 

To  store  up  doubts ;  but  naught  can  quench  those  fires, 
Burning  beyond  nebular-light  with  love  that  ne'er  expires 


II. 


And  minds  supreme  shall  pierce  the  dark  unknown, 

And  love,  sole  joy  to  live,  shall  e'er  entreat 
The  soul  to  hope,  when  all  beside  hath  flown  ; 

The  meek  no  more  shall  kneel  at  Sin's  gay  feet, 
Weeping  for  justice  ;  nor  annals  repeat 

Their  old  sad  tale  of  youth  and  hope,  in  woe 
And  black  oblivion  to  end ;  nor  sweet 

Philanthropy  remain  loud  pomp  and  show ; 

Nor  power  hide  truth,nor  peace  breed  ruin:  for  man  shall  know. 


12 


III. 

Glorious  guardians  of  the  human  heart 

Are  songster,  poet,  orator,  and  sage  ; 
Forever,  aye  forever,  they  impart 

That  heat  which  slowly  burns  the  glacial  age 
Away;  and  like  the  ocean  in  her  rage, 

With  awful  murmur  bursting  her  confine, 
Anon  the  right  with  wrong  proud  war  shall  rage  ; 

And  giant  thought  rude  labor  shall  refine  ; 

Catholic  joy  shall  reign,  birds  sing,  flowers  bloom,  stars  shine. 


TO 


Lady,  why  dost  thou  tell  me 

Thou  would'st  marry  for  gold  ? 

Shame  !  devils  that  now  impel  thee 
Have  a  strumpet's  body  sold  ! 


TO  MISS  K . 

Tiny  beauty,  sweet  unsuspecting  maid, 
It  were  indeed  a  joy  to  view  thy  face; 

Blue  eyes  with  silken  lashes  overlaid, 

Grand  brow  which  curls  of  gold  so  fairly  grace, 

My  wee  beauty! 


UNIVERSIT 

13 

Pearl  teeth  that  show  and  shine  at  love's  bright  jests, 
Sweet  lips  and  pink-red  cheeks — fond  youth's  delight ; 

I  press  thy  royal  waist  and  full,  round  breasts, 
Defying  those  that  rant  of  wrong   and  right, 

Little  beauty  ! 

Naught  pure  as  thou  made  blind  old  Homer  see ; 

Imogen,  Juliet,  are  nice  in  play, 
But  none  there  are  more  natural,  fair,  and  free, 

Than  my  sweet  love,  whose  love  words  ne'er  can  weigh. 

Little  beauty  ! 

Things,  time,  and  men  may  change,  nor  thou  nor  I  • 
Love  turn  hate  ;  hope,  dust ;  truth  and  lies  agree ; — 

But  I'll  know  happiness  if  thou  art  nigh — 
In  youth  and  age  I'll  live  and  love  for  thee, 

My  wee  beauty ! 


SHELLEY. 

Shelley !  imagination's  spirit  came 

O'er  thee  ;  and  thou  didst  pen  in  golden  lines 

The  "  fleeting  beauty  "  of  our  mystic  world — 

And  this  for  aye  shall  be  the  poet's  fame ; 

Thou  hast  felt  what  many  never  feel, 

Thou  hast  known  what  many  never  know, 

And  mad'st  all  viewless  grandeur  seem  more  real, 

The  source  of  truth  or  error,  joy  or  woe. 


14 


TO  A  TURTLE-DOVE. 

The  fields  were  flaming  red  with  fire, 

The  pitiless  wind  would  heed  no  prayer, 

The  grain  was  burned  ;  the  fiend  would  not  expire, 
Though  brave  men  sweat  and  struggled  there. 

When  one,  whose  heart  throbbed  wild  despair, 
Beheld  a  mournful  dove,  unheeding  all 

Save  her  charred  nest  and  tiny  unpiped  pair, 
Which  ne'er  for  love  and  food  should  call. 

Sad  tears  came  in  the  viewer's  eyes, 

And  then  he  madly  rushed  away; 
Ye,  who  a  creature's  suffering  despise, 

Picture  this  dumb  bird's  woe  and  mute  dismay  ! 

Poor  dove !  the  cruel  world  glides  on, 

Nor  little  cares  for  thee  nor  me ; 
Thejsun  on  fairer  hope  no  more  shall  dawn, 

Now  dark  and  dim  in  death  and  misery. 


EXILED    JEAN  JAQUES  ROSSEAU. 

"  Oh,  for  a  home  beneath  the  ocean  waves, 

Or  joyed  to  rest  by  the  Siren's  sweet  song; 
To  be  with  the  mermaid  as  she  laves 

Upon  the  billow's  crest,  or  glides  along 


15 


Bright  coral  gems,  midst  fairest  mates  that  throng 
Her  home,  where  the  sad  tone  of  music  sounds 
In  primal  purity  and  unknown  wrong; 
Or  to  be  I  care  not  where,  so  the  bounds 
Are  forever  a  limit  to  these  man-shaped  hounds. 


"DESCENT   OF  MAN." 

How  theology's  eyes  did  gape, 

When  Darwin  said  man  was  born  of  an  ape ! 

'  Twas  begged  of  him  some  certain  proof  to  show  ; 

He  answered :  Sirs  !  do  not  you  ape  for  all  you  know  ? 


SOLOMON'S    WAIL. 

That  face  all  loveliness  to-day 

Shall  molder  soon  to  common  clay  ; 

The  loving  heart  and  iron  will 

Erelong  another  place  shall  fill ; 

The  mighty  deeds  of  brain  expanse 

Shall  come  to  naught  through  time  and  chance ; 

Trees,  grass,  and  flowers  may  grow  and  bloom, 

But  rot  they  on  their  mother's  womb ; 

Bright  hymning  orbs,  of  boundless  space 

Sometime  shall  cease  their  joyous  racej; 


16 


All  life  of  water,  earth,  and  sky, 
In  one  cold  tomb  shall  silent  lie  ; 
What  e'er  hath  been,  or  yet  shall  be, 
Is  vanity,  is  vanity  ! 


LOVE. 

While  man  is  man,  and  sweet  woman's  woman ; 

While  ages  lapse  and  Nature  is  the  same, 
And  our  souls  are  thrilled  with  passions  human, 

Venus  holier  than  Zeus  we  name  ; 
Nor  worlds  of  men  nor  aught  can  e'er  defame 

One  loving  life,  whose  love  doth  make  its  might ; 
And  as  the  stars  with  dazzling  beauty  flame, 

When  darkness  cold  and  blackly  shrouds  the  night, 

So  angel  love  like  them  will  be,  and  shine  as  bright. 


TO  A  COMPLAINING  MAIDEN. 

Dear  girl !  the  fairest  flowers  are  often  tilled 
Upon  the  most  repulsive  garden  ground  ; 

Strive  to  have  thy  soul  with  contentment  filled, 
The  best  line  life's  wild-heaving  sea  to  sound ; 

Strongest  is  the  mind  with  hard  duty  drilled  ; 

Smiles  win  the  love,  for  scowls  no  friendship's  found. 


17 


THE   DYING    CHILD    TO   THE    MATERIALISTIC 
MOTHER. 

Dear  mother,  gaze  into  these  dim,  sad  eyes, 
Clasp  these  cold  hands,  feel  if  my  heart  still  beat ; 
Am  I  myself,  or  something  in  disguise  ? 
The  tumbling  world  is  moving  far  away — 
How  strange  things  seem,  so  fleeting,  mystic  all ! 
Now  of  black  space  I  am  the  ghostly  heir, 
Through  the  chill  darkness  will  my  spirit  race. 
Shall  I  know  where,  or  when,  or  what  may  be  ? 
When  I  am  gone,  thou  wilt  behold  of  me 
But  food  for  crawling  worms,  or  wreathing  smoke, 
Or  ashes  pale.    Then,  mother,  canst  thou  think 
That  these  alone  survive  mute  mockery 
Of  thy  sorrow  ?   while  I,  whom  thou  hast  loved 
And  hushed  to  peaceful  sleep  in  babyhood, 
With  thy  face  a  spirit-angel's  shining, 
Am  blotted  into  nothingness — both  heart 
And  mind  forevermore !     O,  no  !  for  thou 
Wilt  feel  and  know  'twere  naught  to  live  and  love, 
Though  King-epherma  in  eternity ; 
If  hope  and  joy  and  soul  were  only  clay — 
To  be  and  end  like  clay  ! 


18 


TO    HER  WHOM    I   LOVE. 

To  her  whom  I  love, 
I  whisper  above : 
Happy  be  an  angel, 

Whom  love  can  own  ; 
Happy  be  an  angel, 

Whose  life  is  for  loan. 


SOCIETY  AND   GOVERNMENT. 

Society  exists  by  common  need — 

Happiness  is  its  universal  end ; 
And  government,  as  means  should  be  decreed, 

The  evil  to  reform,  the  good  defend. 


YOSEMITE. 

I. 

Gaze  down  below,  then  turn  thine  eyes  above, 
If  thou  wouldst  see  a  chasm  in  a  dell, 

Where  Nature  moves  the  heart  to  fear  and  love, 
And  all  seems  like  a  heaven, — earth  and  hell ; 
What  stories  may  these  mute  creations  tell 


19 


Of  peerless  beauty,  majesty,  and  might? 
Forever  will  remain  their  awful  spell, 
Dear  to  the  memory  as  love  and  light, 
Sublime  as  the  rising  sun  or  jewels  of  night. 


II. 


Here  are  beauties  for  Nature's  worshiper ; 

From  huge  uplifting  forms  of  ancient  rock  ; 
From  loftiest  pine  and  towering  fir, 

Whose  roots  around  and  with  the  former  lock, 

And  seem  at  all  the  heaven's  storm  to  mock — 
To  the  creeping  moss  and  lowly  flower, 

Which,  like  the  humble  man,  should  know  no  shock, 
But  have  beneath  the  great  a  shady  bower; 
While  they  should  breast  the  elements  that  have  the  power. 


III. 


Thou  wilt  fall  forever,  Yosemite ! 

Man  may  his  fellow-man  subdue  and  chain, 
Yet  wilt  thy  waters  leap  both  glad  and  free ; 

While  he  doth  live  and  die,  thou  wilt  remain 

To  teach  mean  tyrants  freedom  is  not  vain, 
Nor  ever  poor  slaves  on  the  earth  shall  plod, 

Since  perfect  laws  all  liberty  contain ; 
For  who  wholly  owns  air,  water,  and  sod, 
And  who,  by  right,  bows  low  before  some  base  man-god  ? 


20 


IV. 


Thy  Sweeping  waters,  with  majestic  tide, 

Fall  sheer  off  and  down  the  long  and  naked  rock ; 

Yet  still  retain  that  which  I  love  of  pride, 

As  on  thy  time-worn  cliff  they  loudly  knock, 
And  sounding,  surge  like  some  electric  shock. 

My  soul,  which  tingling  nervously,  doth  glow 
With  deep  sublimity  ;   as  I  yet  lock 

Mine  eyes  upon  the  falling  water's  flow, 

Then  gaze  down  to  the  white  and  foaming  spray  below. 


V. 


Bridal  Veil,  thy  white  waters  represent 

The  dress  of  now  some  fair  and  lovely  bride ; 

And  loudly  then  thy  rocket  forms  present 
Signals  fired  of  joy — but  they  swiftly  glide 
Away  and  mingle  with  thy  roaring  tide. 

And  haste  them  to  the  dark  and  rolling  sea, 

Where  others  soon  will  follow,  and  will  hide, 

Like  those  before,  their  own  identity, 

Till  forth  from  the  deep  they  come  to  eternity. 


VI. 


El  Capitan,  huge  rock,  silent  and  gray, 

The  tall  pines  stand  like  pigmies  by  thy  side ! 


21 


Here  once  perhaps  the  red  man  knelt  to  pray, 
Forgetting  cruel  deeds — the  warrior's  pride — 
His  scared  voice  lost  in  Merced's  plunging  tide ; — 

O,  look !  bright  rainbows  dance  round  Bridal  Veil 
In  thrilling  grandeur,  dazzling  far  and  wide  ; 

On  their  beams,  what  radiant  spirits  sail ; 

So  beautiful !  even  dear  woman's  beauties  pale. 


VII. 

I  stand  at  midday  on  the  Sentinel  Dome  : 

Will  life  or  death  or  aught  efface  this  scene 

And  sight  of  Nature's  own  supernal  home, 

Of  the  wild  peaks  with  wilder  crags  between, 
Making  with  snow  and  sunlight  golden  sheen, 

Lifting  themselves  like  giants,  huge  and  tall, 
Above  the  gentle  valley  fair  and  green, 

Where  mists  or  thunders  down  the  waterfall, 

And  near  the  soft  blue  sky  of  heaven  spread  o'er  all. 


VIII. 

Starr  King,  thou  art  a  heaven-reaching  rock, 
And  look  as  though  ambition  fired  thy  clay ; 

Ye  almost  touch  the  sky,  and  seem  to  lock 

Yourself  with  clouds  ;  where,  mighty  throned,  ye  may 
Mock  all  earthly  tempests  that  beat  their  way 


22 


So  wild  and  rugged ;  for  ye  lift  your  head 

Where  shines  the  sun  in  glory  all  the  day  ; 
Thy  air  no  man  can  breathe,  nor  can  he  tread, 
AVhere  lone  the  bird  of  liberty  his  wings  may  spread. 


IX. 


South  Dome,  I  see  thy  white  and  cloud-capt  form 
Reflected  in  the  soft  still  lake  below ; 

Upon  whose  mirror-face  the  sun  shines  warm, 
Picturing  vines  and  trees  and  rocks  and  snow, 
With  such  sweet  grandeur,  dead  to  pain  and  woe, 

That  the  soul  fain  would  mix  and  melt  away — 
To  be  a  part  of  earth,  if  it  could  go 

And  be  of  thee. — Alas  !  within  our  clay, 

Pure  love  is  oft  a  dream,  and  joys  too  soon  decay. 


Ah !  what  is  this  dark  and  bright  veering  life  ? 

We  know  no  more  than  what  we  now  have  passed- 
And  that  was  mixed  with  hope  and  pain  and  strife, 

Perchance  with  happiness,  which  soon  was  cast 

Away,  for  discontent  and  sin  did  blast 
And  cower  the  soul — save  of  that  chilling  time, 

When  stifling  moans  and  gasps  shall  be  the  last 
Of  earth ;  and  then  we  hope  in  some  bright  clime 
To  know  eternal  love  with  mind  and  heart  sublime.     ' 


<v  JNIVERSIT- 
23  V, 


XI. 


The  sun  is  slowly  sinking  from  mine  eye, 
And  gloomily  my  heart  his  mellow  light 

Doth  leave ;  even  in  my  infancy,  I 

Felt  the  deep,  sad  impression,  as  the  sight 
I  saw  in  my  mind  till  beautiful  and  bright 

The  spangled  stars  came  peeping  all  around, 
And  under  heaven's  arch,  and  soft  and  white, 

The  rolling  moon  danced  lovely  on  the  ground, 

And  as  they  banished  sadness,  gave  a  love  profound, 


XII. 


That  beauteous  will  be  resumed  once  more  : 

Ah,  now  !  I  see  the  heavens  all  aglow 
With  warm  and  dazzling  light,  which,  shining  o'er 

And  on  the  roaring  waterfalls  below, 

Makes  what  no  soul  with  mortal  words  can  know ; 
E'en  the  eyesight  seems  some  sweet  delusion, 

And  not  the  gleaming  water  and  the  snow — 
Mantled  mountains  free  from  all  confusion, 
Though  to  the  memory  seeming  an  illusion. 


XIII. 

When  to  the  massive  cliffs  and  starry  sky 
I  look  in  silent  awe,  I  marvel  not 


24 


The  poet's  heart  to  such  as  these  draws  nigh, 
Musing  on  all  things  unknown  or  all  forgot ; 
On  what  methinks  must  be  a  happy  lot — 

A  lot  as  happy  as  a  dream  can  be. 

That  has  a  universe  with  earth  a  spot, 

And  a  deep  immortal  spirit,  all  free 

To  roam  at  will,  in  strong  and  soaring  majesty. 


XIV. 

They  of  might  and  truth,  like  stars  of  heaven, 
Shine  forth  when  dreary  is  the  world  and  dark, 

And  sink  away  when  the  daylight's  given 
Into  their  silent  graves  ;  yet  leave  a  mark 
Of  glory  to  mankind,  who  catch  some  spark 

Of  guiding  majesty  ;  and  they  are  stars 

That  light  the  sky,  and  burn  above  the  bark 

Of  human  dogs;  in  all  life's  pitiless  jars, 

Like  Christ,  they  teach  and  pity  those  who  cause  their  scars , 


XV. 

Now  the  setting  moon  throws  her  silver  rays 
In  long,  broad  beams  upon  the  hoary  wall ; 

Then  fades  away;  nor  longer  tranquil  stays 
A  single  star  in  heaven's  spacious  hall ; 
But  waning  dim  they  slow  retire,  till  all 


The  host  have  gone,  and  left  me  with  my  dreams ; 
But  soon  the  twilight  comes,  and  soon  will  call 
The  day  ;  yes,  now  I  see  the  craggy  seams, 
Where  through  and  o'er  the  golden  sun  of  glory  streams. 


XVI. 

O,  sweet  Nature !  1  only  wish  to  be 

Thy  constant  lover  :   grant  me  but  this  boon  ; 

Since  I  have  seen  thy  work,  Yosemite, 

Can  I  forget  and  cease  to  love  thee  soon, 
When  spread  around  me  are  the  sun,  the  moon, 

The  stars,  the  sky,  and  clouds,  and  winds  that  haste 
To  do  thy  will,  and  keeping  one  vast  tune 

With  lakes,  rivers,  earth ;  and  near  by  is  placed 

Round  them  "  old  ocean's  gray  and  melancholy  waste"  ? 
JUNE,  1879. 


INVOCATION. 

Demons  and  angels  of  night  and  silence, 

Now  breathing  dreams  into  the  soul  of  sleep ! 

I'm  standing  'neath  the  stars  in  sad  suspense, 
A  mute  longing  in  the  everlasting  deep : — 

From  the  hushed  mystery  no  spirit  speaks  ; 

The  wailing  birds  whose  lives  are  born  of  death, 

The  great  gleaming  orbs  whirling  swift  around, 


And  the  dull-chirping  insects  mock  desire. 
O,  vanity  and  thought !  I'll  haste  to  bed, 

Where  the  spirit  gropes  for  nothing  higher 
Than  the  strange  dreaminess  of  peaceful  rest. 


HAPPINESS. 

All  men  have  spoken,  all  that  bards  have  sung ; 

With  all  that  they  can  ever  think  or  speak — 
The  life-worn  brain  often  with  but  tongue, 

The  wrongs  heaped  by  the  strong  upon  the  weak  ; 
The  proud  and  sensitive  heart  which  e'er  shall  seek 

A  heaven's  joy — but  find  of  pain,  a  hell ; 
Tears  shed,  the  soul  that  can  nor  weep  nor  break ; 

The  voice  of  fools,  the  thought  in  mind's  deep  cell, 

All,  only  the  same  strong  hope  for  happiness  tell. 


JUSTICE. 

Ah,  Justice  !   twin-sister  of  Liberty, 

So  hard  to  find  :  when  found,  so  oft  o'erthrown  ; 
Thou  showest  how  what  is  ought  not  to  be, 

Thou  stern,  dim  angel  from  the  deep  unknown  ! 


27 


The  old,  sweet  dream  of  Justice,  fair  and  pure, 
Ever  wakes  to  sad  decrees  in  Nature  ; 

Fools,  kings,  wars,  riches,  rascals  still  endure, 
And  slavery  binds  the  human  creature. 


WOMAN'S  LOVE. 

Life's  vain  without  some  woman's  love- 
Pure  love  that  spirits  hymn  above ; 
Without  which,  all  would  fiendish  be, 
Whether  beast,  man,  or  Deity. 


TO  BABY. 

Angel  babe,  none  have  hate  nor  fear  of  thee, 
Who  know  the  beauty  of  thy  tender  heart ; 

See  thine  eyes  swimming  tears  or  dancing  glee, 
Hear  thy  tones  more  than  a  sage's  word  impart. 

Health's  rose-red  cheeks,  high  brow,  both  broad  and  fair, 
Eyes  as  sky  or  far-distant  mountain  blue ; 

Thou  sweetest  child  and  babe  of  silken  hair, 
In  thee  I  look  the  highest  heaven  through. 


28 

In  my  arms,  thy  heart  beating  close  to  mine, 

Little  lips  giving  Nature's  purest  kiss  ; 
I  know  the  world's  hypocrisy  is  never  thine — 

That  love  and  life  for  thee  bring  holiest  bliss. 

And  should'st  thou  grow  as  cruel,  base,  and  vile, 

As  thou  art  innocent  and  stainless  now, 
I  would  love  thee ;  though  on  me  curses  pile — 

Such  hath  been  who  will  learn  both  why  and  how? 

For,  oh !  upon  this  airy  sea  of  life, 

How  oft  our  joys  are  ruined,  and  hopes  are  fooled ; 
How  oft  'tis  shrew  and  man,  and  brute  and  wife ; 

Failure  in  youth  and  prime,  dark  death  when  schooled. 


PUBLIC  CUSTOM. 

The  laws  and  "powers  that  be"  are  sometimes  wrong, 
Slaves  of  custom  to  countless  lies  conform ; 

As  public  thought,  no  tyrant  is  so  strong, 
Nor  leaves  so  few  the  many  to  reform. 


29 


SUCCESS. 

We  believe  and  live  in  our  desires, 

We  toil  and  hope  for  what  we  love, 
Unthinking  where  the  truth  may  be  ; 

And  fear  of  power  and  mystery 
Is  deemed  the  mean  for  every  end — 

The  one  real  end  is  happiness. 
What  servile  praises  follow  him, 

Who,  by  his  natural  strength,  or  by 
Some  smile  of  circumstance,  shall  win, 

Fame  or  money !     Be  this  success, 
How  many  can  on  earth  succeed  ? 

And  noble  love,  and  friendship  dear, 
And  pure  joy  in  the  spirit's  realm, 

The  holiest  and  sweetest  things  in  life 
Shall  be  forever  to  mankind 

As  the  red-hearted  lily,  grown 
From  dank  and  filthy  scum ;  to  be 

Plucked  by  pleasure-drawn  youth,  and  left 
To  die  in  its  silent  beauty ; 

Or  as  ocean-bubbles,  the  wave 
Of  might  shall  strike  and  bear  away. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


30 


«  SWEET  LAND  OP  LIBERTY." 

No  country 's  free  where  self  is  king ; 

Real  liberty  does  no  deeds  inhuman, 
But  grants  the  natural  rights  to  everything — 

The  rights  of  every  child,  man,  and  woman. 

Boast  not  America  is  fair  and  free, 

While  far  from  self -ruled  is  her  government, 
While  robbed  are  innocence  and  honesty, 

By  dark  intrigue  and  courtier  blandishment. 


WHY! 

Canst  thou  bind  the  sweet  influences  of  the  Pleiades,  or  loose  the  bands  of  Orion  ?- 
Job  xxxviii :  31. 

List  to  the  music  of  the  starry  choir, 
View,  wonder-struck,  those  whirling  balls  of  fire ; 
Travel  the  sea,  behold  her  gentle  sleep, 
Or  hear  the  thunder  of  her  awful  sweep ; 
Scan  old  earth's  geology,  each  page, 
From  first  of  seven  to  the  present  age ; 
Pierce,  if  thou  canst,  that  far-off  sphere  of  gold, 
Through  the  heaven  of  blue  sublimely  rolled  ; 


31 


Deep  study  with  philosophers  the  soul, 

Or  superstition  with  thy  thoughts  enroll ; 

Stand  silent  o'er  the  tomb,  and  hot  tears  weep 

For  dearly  loved  one>  hushed  in  peaceful  sleep; 

Let  love,  planting  flowerets  on  the  grave, 

Ere  long  so  bright  and  beautiful  to  wave 

Her  way  through  dim  and  mystic  darkness  wend, 

Hoping  still  howsoe'er  each  hope  shall  end. 

In  the  forests  of  America  roam, 

Where  million  reptiles,  birds,  and  beasts  have  home ; 

On  the  wido  river  of  Amazon  row, 

And  all  her  nested  fowl  and  fishes  know ; 

Or  proud  explore  the  pole  of  icy  breath, 

Where  waking  or  sleeping,  life  most  is  death  ; 

Live  in  hazy  mirage  of  scorching  flame, 

Idly  lewd  and  strange  to  the  blush  of  shame ; 

Columbia,  Asia,  and  Europe  praise, 

Where  'tis  claimed  religion  or  reason  sways ; 

Minute  atom  of  an  oblivial  hour, 

Why  rob  thy  brother  of  his  power 

To  think  and  love,  and  make  him  toil  and  bleed, 

So  counting  glorious  thine  evil  deed  ? 

Man,  seeing,  doing  thus,  wilt  thou  pretend 

To  know  why  all  exists,  and  why  shall  end 

In  separation  of  the  universe, 

In  harmony  with  that  ye  love  or  curse  ? 


32 


ON  MISS  . 

Oh,  she  was  a  beauty ! 

So  loving,  sweet,  and  pure ; 
To  kiss  her  was  love's  dear  duty  ; 

Though  kisses,  love  will  never  cure. 

Smoother  than  Angelo's  marble, 
Her  sacred  intellectual  brow  ; 

And  her  voice  like  birds  that  warble 

Sunshine  and  joy — you  know  not  how. 

And  then  to  look  upon  that  eye, 

And  read  the  very  spirit  there ; 
Her  love  and  hope  and  goodness  high, 
Free,  spite  the  deeds  of  Aidenn's  pair. 

Ideal  form  of  angel  grace, 

Infinite  sweetness  in  her  smile, 

Strong  beauty  of  a  woman's  face, 

A  power  that  can  the  heart  beguile. 

O,  she  was  a  bonnie  beauty ! 

So  loving,  sweet,  and  pure ; 
To  kiss  her  was  love's  dear  duty ; 

Though  kisses,  love  will  never  cure. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


33 


DANIEL   WEBSTER. 

O,  Webster  !  thou  wert  king  of  mind  and  heart, 
The  chief  of  statesmen,  dead  or  living  now. 

Up  from  thy  chair,  I  see  thee  listless  start ; 

But  soon  thine  eyeballs  flash  beneath  thy  brow, 
And  all  before  thy  mighty  words  must  bow ; 

Nor  time  nor  eternity  ne'er  can  rive 

Them  from  the  spirit's  memory ;  and  thou, 

Who  did  with  majesty  and  beauty  give 

Such  thoughts  to  man,  may'st  say  forever — "  I  still  live." 


HOME. 

With  strong  sire  and  gentle  tender  mother, 
With  toddling  babe  and  loving  wife,  to  live ; 

With  the  pure  sister  and  noble  brother — 

What  sweeter  hope  or  joy  this  life  can  give? 

Home !   O,  sweetest  blessing  or  blackest  curse  ! 

Dear  as  our  hope  of  everlasting  joy, 
Or  sad  as  the  atheist's  universe, 

Heaven  of  life  or  hell  that  will  destroy. 
2 


34 


HERMIT  OR  HUSBAND. 

Often  removed  from  man,  we  contemplate 

His  as  a  sad  and  selfish  lot — 
A  creature  of  instinctive  fear  or  hate  ; 

Most  hopeless  and  most  sintui  blot 
Upon  the  page  of  Nature's  lengthy  book. 

Thus  may  we  grow  the  Harold  of  unrest, 
So  earth  can  give  no  loving  nook 

Where  gently  heals  the  torn  and  bleeding  breast ; 
And  scowling  fierce  from  bitterness  of  soul, 

Misery  or  madness  blacken  each  day ; 
The  fiery  heart  heeds  not  control, 

Till  to  quiet  darkness  it  burn  away : 
Not  so  with  him  who  lives  and  toils  with  man, 

And  with  some  maiden  views  the  stars, 
While  joyous  children  laugh  within  the  van, 

Proud  dancing  on  the  throat  of  Mars ; 
He,  like  a  perfect  flower,  shall  only  fade 

When  full  of  fragrance  is  its  time; 
He,  like  the  sonnets  cherubim  have  made, 

Moves  on  in  everlasting  rhyme. 


35 


TO  A  LADY  FRIEND. 

Ah,  dear  lady !  though  thy  words  were  sincere, 

Which  bade  me  cross  the  threshold  once  again, 
I  come  no  more;  the  place  would  be  a  sneer 

To  all  my  youthful  dreams  and  hopes — and  then 
'Twere  best  for  me  to  hide  deep  in  my  heart, 

What  might  have  been,  but  now  can  never  be. 
Farewell  to  her  ! — I  bear  the  cruel  dart, 

To  pain  this  side  of  dim  eternity ; 
Farewell  to  love  of  speechless  joy  and  pride, 

So  pure  and  holy  in  the  vanished  days  : 
I  "thought  all  passion  in  its  time  had  died ; 

But  no  ;  mine  lingers  and  forever  stays  ! 


WOMEN'S  RIGHTS. 

Fair  and  lovely  sister,  faithful  woman, 
In  your  virtue  throned  a  sacred  beauty ; 

Your  love  in  law  must  still  uplift  the  man, 
As  goodness  is  thine,  whatever  thy  duty. 

Man  takes  your  money  to  help  force  his  law, 
As  kings  took  his  a  hundred  years  ago; 

Why  stand — as  stood  your  brother  then — in  awe, 
Thousands  afraid  to  strike  for   tiuth  a  blow  ? 


36 


Alas !  that  right  should  fail  for  want  of  might, 
And  noble  souls  o'er  cruel  acts  repine ; 

And  patient  love  be  voiceless  in  the  night, 

While  brutes  and  thieves,  in  part,  her  place  define. 

If  by  the  people,  governments  are  made, 

Man  can  only  equal  be  to  woman ; 
And  why  should  power's  conceit  be  but  obeyed, 

If  justice  and  law  be  fair  and  human  ? 


THOUGHTS  OF  THE  PANTHEIST. 

From  the  low  grave — sad  and  silent  dust — 
Where  alone  life  meets  the  dim  forever, 
Countless  thoughts  and  hopes ;  and  alas !  base  fear 
Come  wailing  to  the  human  soul  for  light ; 
Such  things  must  be  ;  for  of  all  life  and  death 
Each  mind  will  have  its  own  philosophy, 
And  that  which  forces  vows  of  public  belief, 
Bears  cringing  slaves  and  shrewd  hypocrisy. 
Know  thou  the  tear-wet  tomb?  hope  knows  no  tomb, 
Nor  eternal  love,  nor  tranquil  reason ; 
They  sing  at  parting  this  grand  requiem : 
Matter  to  matter,  and  force  to  force,  and  mind 
To  mind ;  all  things  do  merely  change,  and  all 
There  is  has  ever  been,  and  e'er  shall  be ; 
All  limits  each,  and  each  thing  limits  all, 


37 


From  crowned  intellection  to  the  viewless 

Atoms ;  and  they,  who  leave  effect  to  dream 

Of  one  first  cause — author  of  all  we  hate 

Or  love,  of  woe  or  joy,  of  wild  despair 

Or  sweetest  hopes — become  but  worshipers 

Of  power,  making  chaos  of  pure  ethics. 

Some  mind  must  be  supreme ;  yet  only  all 

The  unmade  everlasting  universe 

Of  matter,  mind,  and  force  is  infinite  : — 

When  superstition  shall  no  longer  be, 

And  man  shall  strive  to  reverence  principle  ; 

Give  public  praise  to  pure  morality 

Unmixed  with  fable  of  the  vast  unknown, 

Give  conscious  sin  a  general  curse 

With  justice  to  creative  circumstance, 

And  real  religion  dawns  upon  the  world. 

'Twill  yet  be — though  thought  still  is  weak — and  hope 

Before  the  base  idols  of  past  ages, 

Weeping,  died  to  sad  memories  of  dreams. 

Time  and  thought  so  change,  that  the  ideal 

To-day,  to-morrow  hath  a  funeral, 

Sepulchered  ever  with  our  passing  tears, 

Or  transient  scorn,  or  mortal  fancy  eyes 

The  whole  as  cycles  of  eternity. 

Like  man,  nations  have  fallen  into  rack 

With  wild  experiment,  with  luxury, 

Negligence  and  crime,  and  none  has  ever 

Blossomed  to  its  own  desire  of  truth 

And  beauty ;  yet  hope  (that  palmer — angel 

Whose  travels  reach  beyond  the  stars)  still  holds 


38 


Sweet  jack-o'-lanterns  to  the  eyes  of  man. 
In  our  tearful  speechless  sadness,  we  gaze 
Upon  the  dimmed  and  vacant  eyes  of  death, 
And  the  charity,  which  in  life,  had  made 
A  seraph  of  a  fiend,  we  give  in  vain  : — 
Hateful  to  the  soul  of  sense  and  goodness, 
Those  solemn  radicals  who  hear  and  judge 
For  'aye,  by  their  small  village  law,  the  poor 
Pleas  of  sin  and  sorrow — cease  thy  judgment ; 
For  the  Spirit  is  a  complex  problem, 
Scorning  pure  reason,  and  the  richest  lore, 
Even  herself;  her  native  self  to  know. 
O,  whirl,  forever  whirl,  bright  shining  worlds ! 
Creatures  of  light  and  darkness,  we  will  laugh 
And  weep,  love  and  hate,  hope  and  fear,  as  now, 
Till  we  submit  to  your  unchanging  rules, 
Not  with  sad  and  hopeless  yearnings ;  but  with 
Healthy  reasoning  and  gentle  patience, 
Grasping  joy  in  the  holy  days  of  peace. 


BEETHOVEN,  MOZART,  AND  MUSIC. 


Songs  sad  with  sin,  or  sweet  with  purity ; 

Beethoven  and  Mozart  made  the  whole  earth 

Holier  voicing  hidden  melody; 

Eternal  heirs  of  glory  from  their  birth, 
Sublime  beings  that  are  of  far  more  worth 


39 

Than  those  whose  heads  with  golden  crowns  are  set — 

Than  those  who  rule  the  world  with  blood  and  dearth, 
And  whom  we  e'er  should  hate — if  not  forget, 
Beside  these  names  to  which  the  world's  praise  is  a  debt. 


II. 

I  saw  Beethoven  touch  nis  instrument ; 

Thiills  of  deep  feeling  through  his  frame  would  tear, 
His  face  was  full  of  joy  and  heaven-bent, 

Communing  with  the  spirits  of  the  air. 

Above,  around,  beneath,  and  here  and  there, 
Was  heard  the  awful  sound  of  moving  worlds ; 

Happiness  was  sung;   pain  that  women  bear; 
Men's  hates  and  fears ;  the  laugh  of  boys  and  girls — 
And  all,  through  life  and  death,  in  passive  grandeur  whirls. 


III. 


A  universe  of  darkness  round  the  soul, 

Where  monsters  yell  in  rage  and  fear  and  pain ; 

Now  huge  red  waves  through  hell  in  chaos  roll, 
And  then  the  sun,  like  lightning's  flash,  again 
Bursts  forth ;  no  clouds,  nor  even  mist  remain 

To  hide  the  bright  blue  sky  ;   beautifully 

Earth's  sounds  and  sights  all  blend  Avithin  the  strain 

O,  airy  angels,  love  and  melody, 

And  thou,  sweet  music,  Heaven  or  death  are  in  ye ! 


40 


HUMAN  RIGHTS. 

"  Your  rights  can  only  cease  where  mine  begin," 
There  for  aye  uphold  your  independence ; 

The  "  might  makes  right "  has  been  our  hellish  sin, 
Not  one  fair  form  with  snakes'  attendance. 


POLICY. 

Some  passions  in  this  man  are  strong  and  deep, 
And  reason  may  be  fettered  weak  or  low ; 

If  thou  wouldst  have  his  love,  and  it  wouldst  keep, 
Now  to  his  nature  suit  thy  words,  then  slow 
To  thine  own  thought  return — and  as  storms  blow 

Gentle  currents  alike  with  them  at  will, 
As  little  streams  to  winding  rivers  flow, 

So,  drawing  him  to  thee,  thou  must  fulfill 

What  else  had  failed,  devoid  of  policy's  nice  skill. 


41 


HENRY   CLAY   SPEAKING   AGAINST    THE    ADMIS 
SION  OF  CALIFORNIA  AS  A  SLAVE  STATE. 

There  he  stood  all  alone, 

Like  some  dying  soul  in  isolation ; 
Proud  his  aspect,  prouder  his  tone, 

As  gazing  upward  with  a  tearful  eye, 
He  besought  the  justice  of  another  realm, 

If  justice  here  below  should  die; 
Those  thin  blue  hands  were  clasped  in  awful  scorn 

Of  the  base  mummies  grouped  around  ; 
For  they  but  images  of  men  were  born, 

Beside  that  soul  so  lofty  and  profound ! 


CHARITY'S  DIVINE. 

To  dry  one  burning  tear, 

.  To  heal  one  bleeding  heart, 
To  calm  one  deathly  fear, 
Is  doing  no  small  part. 

To  guide  one  soul  aright, 
On  life's  sad  face  to  smile 

With  love's  beauteous  light, 
Is  surely  worth  the  while. 


42 

Human  and  tender  be, 

Whatever  faults  are  thine ; 
Sweet  is  fair  purity, 
But  charity 's  divine, 


THE  PEACE   OF  LIBERTY. 

Amidst  the  ills  of  life, 
In  gloom  and  doubt  and  strife ; 
Where  hopes  and  fears 
And  jeers  and  sneers  ; 
Where  woes  and  joys  and  pains — 
Comprise  all  earth  contains. 

I've  sworn  within  my  mind 
Some  sweeter  peace  to  find ; 

If  from  outside, 

None  shall  divide 
True  love  and  hope  with  me, 
I  still  breathe  proud  and  free. 

In  peace  with  all  to  be, 

Save  when  base  wrongs  I  see ; 

Free  heart  and  brain 

I  will  retain 

While  being's  tide  shall  flow. 
And  I  its  course  can  know. 


43 


THE  MUSE'S  THRONE. 

Away  in  the  firmament's  azure  blue, 

Where  beams  the  mighty  soul  of  day  so  bright ; 
Beneath  the  moon  and  stars,  where  love  may  woo 

And  win  in  the  still  loveliness  of  light, 

Among  her  worlds  of  pure  unf athomed  light ; 
Where  the  ocean  rolls  in  an  eternal  moan, 

And  the  high  mountains  ever  loom  snow-white ; 
In  forests  where  the  birds  have  sung  and  flown, 

And  aye  the  great  and  tranquil  rivers  run ; 

Where  flowers  and  herbage  spring  beneath  the  sun, 
And  nor  air  nor  earth  whispers  human  groan, 
Are  set  the  poet's  heaven  and  the  muse's  throne. 


SELFISHNESS. 

Shall  selfishness  be  ever  king  of  man, 

When  man  of  selfishness  should  be  the  king? 

Must  happiness  forever  be  a  ban, 

Because  the  soul  is  thought  by  some  a  thing 

That  may  be  bought  and  sold  for  what  't  will  bring  ? 

Oh !  must  we  toil  and  seek  earth's  gold  to  find, 
To  look  like  Zeno  down  on  suffering  ? 

Or  shall  we  wish  the  power  of  Shakspere's  mind, 

Unless  it  be  to  love  and  benefit  mankind  ? 


44 

Dost  thou  not  care  if  one  poor  heart  be  sad ; 

If  million  burning  eyes  are  closed  in  tears  ; 
If  hope  and  love  are  gone,  and  mind  be  mad 

With  sin  and  men — and  no  more  darkly  fears ; 

To  sleep  and  test  that  hope  which  so  endears 
Itself  to  man  ?    Is  all  as  it  should  be 

When  human  hearts  may  throb  through  all  the  years 
Of  time?    What  is  the  grand  humanity, 
All  joyless  here  for  an  unknown  eternity? 


LIBERTY,  EQUALITY,  AND  FRATERNITY. 

There  are  more  liberty,  equality,  and  fraternity  in  a  pioneer 
than  in  a  long-settled  country — and  why  ? 

Because  man's  environment  in  a  country  new  to  civilization 
favors  such  a  state  of  things ;  because,  also,  where  the  savagery 
of  nature  is  to  be  changed  and  conquered,  the  reckless  brave,  the 
lovers  of  wild  adventure,  and  the  spirits  of  proud  honor  go. 

There,  amid  hardships,  chance  injuries,  and  terrors  innumer 
able,  the  persecuted  part  of  humanity  has  gonej  forever,  in  search 
of  more  perfect  freedom :  but,  alas !  their  cradles  have  rocked 
but  few  generations  of  patriots  and  heroes. 

Before  proceeding  further,  we  would  make  the  broad  state 
ment,  with  the  vast  tomes  of  historical  experience  at  least  partially 
in  view,  that  a  limited  number  of  individuals  control  and  direct 
all,  or  nearly  all,  the  political  systems,  religious  beliefs,  and  financial 
movements  of  the  world ;  and  when  these  prevent  each  other  from 


45 

tyranny  and  oppression,  by  being  somewhat  equally  balanced  in 
power  and  influence,  there  is  left  considerable  liberty  to  those 
who  have  the  courage  to  select  independent  positions. 

This  end  was  at  one  time  almost  reached  in  the  United  States  ; 
but  now,  though  there  is  tolerable  freedom  in  religion,  the  people 
are  fast  being  chained  by  the  evil  leaders  of  politics  and  finance ; 
and  such  is  the  situation,  that,  to  succeed  in  the  war  for  office 
and  wealth,  one  should  become  an  arch  hypocrite,  and  often  a 
thief;  and  so  seldom  can  the  duped  people  provide  just  punish 
ment,  that  success — no  matter  how  obtained— has  come  to  be 
worshiped  as  the  great  "  I  am  "  of  existence,  a  thing  which  means 
merely  the  acquirement  of  gold,  and  which  covers  more  sins  than 
does  charity. 

That  these  social  dangers  are  an  effect  of  fierce  competition 
that  results  from  an  increasing  population,  and  the  heterogeneity 
of  the  people,  as  much  as  of  criminality  and  ignorance,  cannot  be 
doubted. 

Having  noticed  individual  control,  and  an  example  of  it  in 
the  United  States,  it  is  fit  to  learn  how,  and  how  far,  the  opposite 
state  has  been  developed. 

First,  in  a  newly  settled  country,  particularly  where  the  in 
habitants  are  cosmopolitan,  politics,  finance,  and  religious  opinion 
are  without  method,  unity,  or  powerfully  established  leadership ; 
and  when  men  are  thrown  confusedly  together,  to  view  each  other's 
clashing  customs,  beliefs,  authorities,  and  absurdities,  feelings  of 
diffidence,  of  honor,  and  the  common  sense  born  of  a  little  obser 
vation,  forbid  any  one  of  them  boldly  asserting  his  superiority,  or 
right  of  government,  over  the  rest  of  them ;  yet,  even  here,  where 
the  greatest  equality  and  truest  brotherhood  are  realized,  men  do, 
from  necessity,  search  out  and  gladly  accept  an  informal  leader 
ship  of  their  best  talents. 


46 

For  a  while  their  progress  is  peaceful  and  swift ;  but  soon  the 
prudent  scheming  few  build  up  capital  upon  the  simple  careless 
ness  of  many,  and  slowly  and  naturally  grow  stronger  and  more 
ambitious  of  power,  until  the  final  effect — as  the  history  of  nations 
proves — is  a  consolidation  of  tyrannical  aristocrats,  with  a  mass  of 
slavish,  ignorant  humanity  beneath  them.  Most  countries  of  earth 
furnish  to-day  a  clear  example  of  this  last-mentioned  phase  of 
government ;  and  especially  do  the  Chinese,  Eussian,  and  British 
autocracies. 

When  we  think  of  the  United  States  without  patriotic  preju 
dice  ;  when  we  contemplate,  however  hopefully  we  can,  the  fear 
ful  effects  and  influences  of  their  corporate  monopolists;  the  in 
crease  of  worthless  population  ;  the  frequency  and  enormous  cost 
of  elections  ;  the  multitudinous  number  of  officials ;  the  great  and 
myriad  interests,  spread  over  vast  territory,  necessarily  conflicting 
with  each  other;  and,  worst  of  all,  the  buying  of  votes,  and  de 
fiance  of  just  legal  restrictions,  by  political  rulers  and  powers,  we 
are  forced  to  believe  that  a  pernicious  society,  and  a  most  corrupt 
and  dangerous  government,  are  being  rapidly  created. 

Must  we,  then,  go  on  in  the  future  as  we  have  gone  in  the  past, 
ever  seeking,  but  never  finding,  a  remedy  for  all  this  trouble  of 
powerful  and  gluttonous  aspiration,  of  imbecile  and  religious 
starvation  ? 

Very  little  practical  truth,  but  much  ideality  and  absurdity,  has 
been  evolved  from  this  question. 

Among  the  most  baseless  opinions  that  have  considerable  cir 
culation  just  now,  is  one  which  holds  that  capital  creates  labor 
and  wages,  and  is  the  direct  cause  of  their  rates,  instead  of  the 
amount  of  labor  to  be  done,  and  the  number  and  skill  of  those 
who  are  to  do  that  labor.  We  do  not  deny  that  capital  is  a 


47 

necessary  aid  to  difficult  and  complex  labor;  but  we  do  claim 
that  nothing — not  even  capital — could  be  produced  without  labor. 
While  considering  it  the  duty  of  honest  people  to  ever  and  every 
where  prosecute  rich  rascals  and  their  knavish  supporters,  we  are 
far  from  siding  with  that  senseless,  uproarions  class  which  is  al 
ways  passing  political  resolutions  that  are  drawn  and  drafted  by 
demagogues,  who,  for  incompetency  and  idleness,  have  been 
forced  from  the  fields  of  legitimate  labor. 

Another  intended  relief  is  found  in  "  the  doctrine  of  holding 
all  things  in  common  " ;  which,  though  we  are  compelled  to  pro 
nounce  beautiful  in  the  sight  of  abstract  justice,  is,  in  the  present 
state  of  civilization,  wholly  impracticable ;  for  its  most  successful 
votaries— Mother  Ann's  little  flock — in  their  attempt  at  its  prac 
tice,  are  said  to  have  destroyed  the  supreme  happiness  of  life, 
familiary  affection,  and  comfort  in  relation  to  posterity.  For  any 
known  form  of  government  to  have  an  exclusive  possession  of  all 
real  estate,  thereby  aiming  for  an  equitable  division  of  "  perishable 
property,"  which,  apropos,  contains  all  needful  values  to  existence 
apart  from  those  which  are  natural,  might,  with  purer  motives 
and  higher  reasoning,  be  successful;  but  a  general  attempt  to 
practice  this  theory  now  would,  we  think,  only  stay  individual 
effort  and  energy :  for  what  Vanderbilt  would  permit  a  million 
beggars  to  extract  coin  at  their  pleasure  from  his  pockets  ?  That 
beggars,  in  preference  to  toiling  like  honest  men,  would  thus  sat 
isfy  their  wants,  did  any  method  of  the  distribution  of  the  result 
of  labor  allow  them,  is  a  little  too  plain.  And  finally,  as  great 
difficulties  as  those  disturbing  the  system  now  in  vogue  close 
around  the  aforementioned  theory  of  the  correct  controlment 
and  true  ownership  of  property,  namely :  production,  taxation, 
and  distribution  which  will  be  just,  equal,  and  uniform,  and  which 


48 

a  government  of  either  force  or  liberty  can  rightly  arrange  and 
enforce. 

Shall  we  then  have  recourse  to  the  old  bloody  revolutions, 
whose  clouds  have  scarcely  rolled  from  the  sky  till  they  begin  to 
blacken  it  again  ?  Shall  we  have  union  and  co-operation  of  labor 
in  all  its  departments,  though  for  which  trained  intelligence  is  re 
quired  ;  and  also  the  moral  stamina  to  resist  the  flattering  al 
lurements  of  a  powerful  opposition  ? 

Either  not  discerning  or  believing  the  foregoing  devises  to 
be  inadequate,  the  American  revolutionists  thought  they  saw  a 
final  and  complete  remedy  in  general  education  for  this  sad  ten 
dency  of  governments ;  a«d  early  in  the  history  of  our  country, 
the  institution  of  free  public  schools  received  loud  and  prolonged 
agitation.  Still  it  was  overlooked  by  many,  that  the  construction 
of  human  nature  opposes  the  practicability  and  permanency  of  the 
desired  result  of  the  plan;  for  it  is  absolutely  certain  that  the 
ratio  of  intelligence  to  ignorance  must  ever  on  earth  remain  the 
same.  That  no  amount  of  education  can  make  a  genius  of  a  fool, 
is  much  too  evident. 

An  intense  individuality  has  predominated  in  all  ethical,  po 
litical,  and  financial  systems  that  have  had  an  influence  over  the 
world.  Public  opinion  to-day  once  rested  silently  in  the  original 
brains  of  a  limited  few ;  and  we  may  in  truthfulness  still  further 
assert,  that  inidviduality  is  the  efficient  cause  of  all  human  ad 
vancement  or  disturbance;  for  in  individuality  we  find  the 
beginning  of  every  original  thought  and  deed.  To  scientists,  phil 
osophers,  warriors,  statesmen,  poets,  orators,  musicians,  and 
artists,  are  the  masses  of  mankind  subordinate,  and  indebted  for 
progress  or  retrogression. 

Since  these  leaders  of  the  social  structure  are  immeasurably 


49 

the  product  of  circumstances,  often  immoral,  and  liable  to  com 
parative  ignorance — thus  being  likely  to  lend  their  whole  power 
and  precedent  to  the  establishment  of  evil  principles — the  sorrow 
ful  question  confronts  again,  Will  mixed  evil  and  good  forever  be 
the  portion  of  the  populace  ?  Without  further  argumentation,  we 
would  answer,  No ! — more,  we  admit,  in  hope  than  in  knowledge. 
But,  withaj,  is  it  irrational  to  think,  that,  when  scientific  at 
tainments  have  become — as  they  surely  will — greater  and  grander, 
material  environment  will  favor  a  higher  and  nobler  state  of  be 
ing?  that,  with^nore  perfect  physical  conditions,  the  now  fanciful 
millennium  of  philosophical  and  ethical  beauty  will  be  a  sublime 
reality?  To  them  who  have  hope,  arid  to  them  who  have  no 
hope,  of  some  such  end,  we  may,  in  the  mean  time,  propose  alike 
for  their  following  the  highest  ideal  of  earthly  conduct :  Do  what 
good  you  can,  both  for  yourself  and  humanity. 


ODD  SAYINGS. 

Every  man  loves  what  to  him  seems  good ;  and  what  to  one 
seems  good,  to  another  seems  evil. 

All  are  alike  in  search  of  happiness,  though  many  never  learn 
the  way  thereto. 

Mystery  of  mysteries !     Nature  encircles  all  life  and  death, 
nor  shows  her  beginning  nor  end. 

Better  no  birth  than  a  birth  to  misery. 

That  which  shows  itself  to  the  senses  should  be  believed  and 
followed,  rather  than  that  which  does  not. 
3 


50 

Be  not  submissive  to  tyrants  like  Caesar,  for  their  thrones  are 
built  on  the  misery  of  man. 

Women  and  men  should  be  equally  free  in  all  the  workings 
of  life,  so  nothing  may  be  one-sided. 

Alas  !    what  ought  not  to  be,  is  ;  and  what  ought  to  be,  is  not. 

Greatness  that  is  meek,  like  some  resplendent  jewel  which 
seeks  not,  but  is  sought,  is  the  center  of  desire. 

Love  greets  love  with  outstretched  arms;  but  fear  flees  to 
hide,  still  finding  no  rest. 

They  are  damned  whom  no  one  loves. 

Man's  law  seeks  to  preserve  more  than  reform ;  but  love's 
law,  through  eternity,  seeks  conversion. 

As  birth  and  teaching  may  form  the  mind  of  man,  will  he  do 
that  which  is  good  or  evil. 

Might  and  right  united  are  like  a  sun  before  which  every 
star  of  night  shall  grow  dim. 

The  moral  liver  is  known  only  by  deeds,  and  never  by  con 
fession  or  pro^ssion ;  as  a  smart  rascal  may  be  a  devil  in  reality, 
and  an  angel  in  pretension. 

An  error  of  honesty  is  better  than  the  perfection  of  hypocrisy. 
Sorrow  is  transient :  swift  run  the  hours  of  night ;  soon  comes  the 
day-star's  golden  beauty. 

Deep  in  the  heart  of  an  old  ugly  mountain  rich  treasures  are 
often  hid ;  while  brass  and  mica  gleam  everywhere. 

If  all  necessarily  be  for  the  best  here,  all  must  necessarily 
be  for  the  best  hereafter.  The  fool  should  receive  our  mingled 
pity  and  scorn. 

They  who  have  power,  and  are  foul  therewith,  will  be  loved 
only  by  worms  in  the  end. 


51 


IMMORTALITY— AN  ESSAY. 

Is  the  word  immortality  the  symbol  of  a  sublime  fact,  or  of 
mere  meaningless  imagination? 

We  must  answer  this  query  with  either  theory  or  science. 
However  dark  the  mysteries  which  close  around  us,  we  cannot 
be  silent  upon  this  question,  while  the  aching  brains  of  sages,  the 
mute  sorrows  of  broken  hearts,  the  eyes  wet  and  dim  with  burn 
ing  tears,  and  the  holy,  peaceful  kiss  that  everlasting  love 
imprints  upon  the  cold  and  speechless  lips  of  death — all  ask  if 
mind,  with  its  sad  and  sweet  humanity,  shall  have  in  some  form 
or  place  a  conscious  hereafter,  or  forever  sleep  inane ! 

Indisputably,  one  or  the  other  of  these  conditions  must  be 
the  finality  of  all  earthly  intelligence. 

Probably  no  one  lives  who  could  adduce  many  original  truths 
toward  this  discussion  ;  for  individual  thought — though  sovereign 
from  a  human  standpoint — is  like  a  frail  ship  that  sails  upon  a 
shoreless  ocean,  which  is  the  universe,  and  leaves  behind  tiny  ed 
dies,  ephemeral  as  lightning.  Yet  the  ocean  and  ship  exist :  should 
reason  or  fancy  hold  the  helm?  Let  us  decide  that  as  we 
sincerely  can,  but  ever  be  charitable  to  those  who  are  against  us. 

Desiring  to  be  somewhat  methodical,  we  have  embodied  our 
deductions  of  this  subject  in  the  order  of  numbered  propositions, 
upon  which,  when  given,  the  negative  and  affirmative  evidence 
may  be  weighed. 

PROP.  1.  A  change  called  death  must,  according  to  some 
law  or  laws,  affect  all  material  organizations ;  but  that  any  can  be 
brought  to  nothingness,  is  inconceivable. 


52 

PEOP.  2.  That  any  kind  of  organization  of  matter  can  be  ef 
fected  without  either  force  or  mind,  is  also  inconceivable. 

PROP.  3.  The  universal  germ  must  be  an  inherent  and  eter 
nal  existence. 

PEOP.  4.  That  the  first  principle  is  matter  alone,  force 
alone,  or  mind  alone,  is  unthinkable,  and  opposed  to  all  knowl 
edge,  whether  empiric  or  innate. 

PEOP.  5.  That  the  germ  is  only  matter  and  force,  is  beyond 
credence ;  for  when  these  are  analyzed  and  synthetized  in  all  their 
myriad  varieties  and  changes  which  are  under  the  eye  of  science, 
they  nowhere  seem  capable  of  producing  mind. 

PEOP.  6.  That  the  universal  germ  is  mind,  matter,  and  force 
— self-existent,  yet  dependent  one  upon  another — is  in  closest 
agreement  with  demonstrated  facts. 

PEOP.  7.  The  human  mind  must  comprehend  the  first 
principle  as  entirely  unlimited  ;  and  as  all  known  or  conceivable 
mind,  matter,  and  force  are  each  in  themselves  limited,  no  one  of 
them  can  account  for  the  being  of  the  other  two,  so  naturally  we 
compose  the  first  principle  of  them  all  together. 

PEOP.  8.  Thought,  sensation,  and  life  are  to  themselves 
invisible,  and  generally — perhaps  always — reciprocate  through  the 
medium  of  matter ;  nor  can  there  be  a  mental  communication 
altogether  free  from  material  objectiveness,  which,  though,  might 
be  of  countless  characters,  shapes,  or  distances. 

PEOP.  9.  Matter  of  itself  does  not  move ;  but  matter  with 
convertible  force  does  move. 

PEOP.  10.  Without  matter  there  could  be  no  force,  for  there 
would  be  nothing  for  force  to  act  upon. 

PEOP.  11.     There  could  be  no  mind  without  matter  or  force 
for  every  thought  or  fancy  always  is  in  a  measure  objective ;  nor 


Y 

OF  THK 

JNIVERSITY 
53 

can  there  be  absolute  if  any  subjectivism,  no  more  than  the  idea 
of  a  horizontal  line  void  of  its  perpendicular. 

Before  the  condemnation  of  dogmatist  shall  be  made,  will  the 
reader  carefully  and  candidly  examine  the  given  propositions  ?  The 
writer  will  then  be  prepared  to  specify  more  particularly  on  this 
speculative  subject.  Is  mind  eternal?  Some  have  said:  "If  I 
am  eternal  in  mind,  why  do  I  remember  no  other  objective  reality 
than  of«"this  sphere ;  why  is  my  mind  unconscious  of  existence 
prior  to  that  it  now  has  "  ?  It  may  be  answered,  that  we  do  not 
remember  all  objectiveness  here,  even,  except  by  suggestion  or 
association. 

That  the  composition  and  character  of  the  objective  state  of 
another  world  is,  perchance,  much  different  from  our?,  and  would 
therefore  awaken  different  memories ;  and  that  mind,  upon  the 
death  of  it*  personal  possessor,  may  undergo  an  incomprehensible 
mutation.  (See  Props.  8  and  11.) 

Many  of  those  who  are  skeptical  of  the  eternal  existence  of 
mind  have  stood  upon  an  equal  hight  with  the  most  acute  and 
gigantic  thinkers  of  the  world,  and  present  to  our  consideration  a 
vast  array  of  sophistical  and  axiomatic  evidence.  These  intel 
lectual  materialists  claim  that  man,  being  an  animal  himself,  is,  in 
his  relation  to  the  hereafter,  at  par  with  all  flora  and  fauna 
which  derive  their  substance  and  vitality  from  earth  and  sun. 
None  will  deny  that  this  is  true,  so  far  as  physical  properties  and 
life  forces  extend  ;  but  if  the  proposition  shall  any  further  retain 
its  value,  it  must,  at  least,  be  made  probable  that  mind,  like 
structural  life  and  vegetation,  is  the  mere  conditional  attribute  of 
matter  and  force. 

An  organization  of  life  devoid  of  mind  or  of  instinct,  or  of 
both,  might,  by  some  abstruse  possibility,  be  produced  from  mat- 


54 

ter  by  electricity,  magnetism,  heat,  etc. — as  electricity  alone  is 
capable  of  converting  force  into  motion  ;  and  motion,  wherever  it 
be,  is  almost  identical  with  the  life  in  an  organization.  But  where, 
in  water,  earth,  air,  and  space,  is  there  a  thing  which  could  create 
mind  but  mind  ?  (See  Props.  5  and  6.) 

Yet,  it  is  said  that  as  mind  is  dependent  upon  matter  and 
force  for  its  every  manifestation,  it  is  therefore  resultant  from 
them.  Now,  a  plant  proceeds  from  matter  and  force,  which, 
when  analyzed  in  the  plant,  are  found  to  be  of  exact  quantity  and 
quality-^-evQn.  to  coloring  agents  and  substance — that  they  were 
originally,  and  will  be  when  the  plant  has  undergone  disintegra 
tion.  Then  the  plant,  by  its  chemic  construction,  proves  itself  an 
identical  origin  from  matter  and  force ;  but  these,  nowhere  under 
our  observation  or  sensation,  even  in  electric  phenomena,  evince 
any  distinct  sameness  to  mind.  (See  'Props.  5  and  7.) 

Diverting  slightly,  we  may  say  it  is  certain  that  matter  is 
dependent  upon  force,  and  inversely ;  yet  none  holds  the  one  as 
an  attribute  or  effect  of  the  other,  nor  denies  their  eternity.  (See 
Props.  9,  10,  and  6.) 

Nevertheless,  it  is  further  urged  that  instinct  is  something 
between  which  and  mind  no  plain  line  can  be  drawn,  and  that  the 
former  still  reaches  such  an  extreme  blindness  as  to  be  almost  in 
separable  from  natural  physical  forces. 

We  confess  this  is  a  most  powerful  objection  to  those  who 
simply  believe  in  the  immortality  of  the  human  mind;  and  for 
this  kind  of  argument,  we,  who  take  another  position,  have  no 
defense.  (See  Props.  1,  2,  3,  and  6.)  And  neither  can  we  pretend 
to  know  whether  instinct  is  a  blind  force,  or  a  lower  order  of 
mind ;  but  in  the  face  of  our  observation  and  experience,  the  lat 
ter  appears  to  be  the  likeliest  conclusion.  (See  Props.  4,  5,  and  6.) 


55 

Let  us  grant,  for  the  sake  of  a  brief  reflection,  that  we  are 
not  immortal,  and  all  mind  shall  at  last  cease  to  be  ;  what  would 
it  matter  ?  Nothing ;  for  there  is  no  desirable  condition  of  mind, 
except  that  condition  have  its  complement  in  mind.  Imag 
ine  only  one  mind  in  the  universe  ;  how  wholly  useless  and  vain 
its  existence  would  be  if  it  were  similarly  constituted  to  ours : 
however,  imagine  two  or  a  million  minds ;  how  full  of  meaning 
to  each  other  and  one  another — though  to  nothing  else — their  ex 
istences  become. 

The  independence  and  eternity  of  mind,  matter,  and  force 
being  granted,  we  must  of  necessity  be  immortal;  but  exactly 
how  or  where  our  intelligence  is  continued,  is  a  problem  beyond 
the  solution  of  the  mightiest  reasoner.  (See  Props.  7  and  8.) 

The  ignorant,  in  the  future  as  in  the  past,  are  likely  to  trans 
form,  in  imagination,  their  earthly  ideals  to  the  "  shining  shore," 
and  their  hatreds  to  the  "  bottomless  pit " ;  for  as  long  as  there 
are  mysteries  there  will  be  ignorance ;  though  it  is  to  be  hoped 
there  will  yet  be  more  wisdom.  Were  there  no  evidence  toward, 
and  nothing  save,  the  bare  hope  of  immortality,  we,  on  account  of 
temperament,  would  likely  indulge  in  such  hope.  The  extent  of 
the  aforenamed  belief  may  be  approximated  by  the  vast  number 
of  prevalent  theologies,  which,  in  their  "  divinely  inspired  revela 
tions,"  authorize  the  hope  of  a  continuance  of  existence  in  another 
realm. 

We  do  nut,  withal,  contend  that  these  hopes  and  beliefs,  (our 
own  included)  form  any  reasonable  basis  for  an  argument  support 
ing  ideas  of  immortality ;  but  have,  we  think,  through  the  sanction 
of  tradition,  custom,  and  public  opinion,  become,  as  it  were,  "  a 
part  and  parcel'5  of  our  natures,  wherein  they  remain  sensitively 
strong  and  enduring.  And  of  these,  whatever  is  false  will  slowly 


56 

perish,  violently  or  peacefully,  as  adverse  to  scientific  truth  and 
investigation.  Though  the  jewel  case  be  broken  for  its  unfitness, 
the  genuineness  of  the  jewel — if  it  be  jewel — will  in  nowise  be 
impaired. 

Nothing  is  too  humble,  nothing  is  too  august  and  high — from 
the  dim  and  distant  nebulae  to  the  microscopic  insect — that  we, 
for  fear  of  public  odium,  should  refrain  from  its  examination  • 
but  only  the  consciousness  of  inability,  and  hence  the  uselessness 
of  exploration,  should  compel  us  to  desist.  » 

Professing  to  be  without  prejudice  in  reviewing  what  evi 
dence  we  are  capable  of  discerning,  we  are  wholly  satisfied  to 
rest  our  hope  and  knowledge  upon  the  side  of  immortality. 


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